Race Recap: Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend 10K

At long last…I thought I’d continue my Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend recaps with a look at the 10K! Just in case you missed my previous recaps, you can find my look at the meet-up here, and the expo here.

When runDisney announced that this would be the first-ever 10K at Disneyland (and, of course, that you’d get bonus medals for completing both the new 10K and the Disneyland Half Marathon) I knew I had to do it.

With a 6:30 start time, I was up by 4:30am to get dressed in my Sulley costume and walk to the starting line. My mom, sister, and I stayed at the Desert Inn Anaheim during our time in California — not luxury living by any stretch of the imagination, but the price and, more importantly, the proximity to the parks (the motel was literally right across the street!) couldn’t be beat.

As many of you may already know, California was hit with a ridiculous heat wave just in time for the race weekend, so I was already sweating just from my walk to the starting area. I must say, it was pretty cool walking through Downtown Disney with lots and lots of fellow costumed runners!

I was running the 10K — as is the case with all of my Disney races — strictly for fun, NOT for time, so my plan was to take it slow, take plenty of pictures (duh), and drink as much water as I possibly could.

What I liked most about this race was that, unlike the next day’s half marathon, the shorter course meant that the majority of the race took place in the parks. Mind you, most of my photo opportunities were with Alice in Wonderland characters (which, sad to say, isn’t my favorite Disney movie), but running through the parks is ALWAYS a thrill for me.

After they released my corral just seconds after the start of Corral A, I will say that the first two miles were a bit of a struggle for me. I had set a race-day plan of keeping my pace as fast as possible until we reached the parks, so as to ensure plenty of time for fun and photo-taking by the time we reached Disneyland and California Adventure!

My guess is that the high humidity, jet-lag, and the fact that my legs were already tired from walking through the parks all day on Thursday and Friday made for a less-than-enjoyable race experience as we were running through Anaheim on our way to the Disney parks.

Honestly, by the time I reached mile 3, I felt as though I had run closer to 6. I was already tired, and definitely questioning my insane decision to take on this race challenge in the first place.

Of course, the moment we got into the parks, I magically felt better and the remaining 3 miles flew by!

I soaked up the scenery and made sure to stop and mingle with lots of new friends…including my FAVORITE picture (from both races!) with the Monsters, Inc. characters…but I’m saving those for my next post!

I apparently also managed to be in the right place at the right time, because while a cast member was taking my photo in front of the castle, Joey Fatone happened to run up to shoot a scene for a quick promotional video for runDisney, so I got to be included! You can find me around 0:52.

Before I knew it, the race was over.

And despite any trouble I experienced in the early miles of the race, I wish I could have kept running!

But it wasn’t without just a little bit of trouble! I found the lack of ample water stations to be a bit disturbing…and when I did find water, it could be described as lukewarm (at best). I believe the water stops were situated along the course every 2 miles, but of course, the humidity meant that it was definitely necessary to have more frequent water stops. I did see runners leaving the course to find water fountains, which probably shouldn’t be necessary during a race of this size.

That being said, if that’s the only problem to encounter during the first year of this race, then I’d say runDisney did a pretty fabulous job!

I also had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction with my costume. As it turns out, Duck Tape doesn’t adhere all that well to a hot, sweaty mess such as myself, and I was losing my polka dots along the course. Fortunately, I anticipated such an issue, and was totally carrying around extra dots in my iFitness belt to apply for post-race photos — ha! If that doesn’t make me a huge loser, I don’t know what does!

Overall, I was definitely not disappointed by the course or the spectators or the FUN, and as always, runDisney delivered with a SERIOUS piece of bling for finishers!

Love love love the Sully costume! and I think you’re amazing for thinking ahead and having back up spots, I’d do the same thing! Sadly, I’ve learned the duct tape lesson with my Esmeralda costume during Mickey’s Not So scary Halloween party in the rain.

I'm Jen, thanks for checking out my blog! After a lifetime of struggling with my weight, I managed to lose 90 pounds in 2007... and, for the first time in my life, actually kept them off. In my efforts to lose "the final 40," I became a runner and martial artist (Taekwondo and Muay Thai). A NJ-based freelance journalist, when I'm not writing about the latest health and fitness trends, I'm actually living them! Visit my website at www.jenniferlnelson.com